Just One Day By Gayle Forman

Allyson Healey is on a school trip to England after just graduating from high school when she meets Willem De Ruiter, a charming Dutch boy, starring in an outdoor performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Allyson feels there's something between them, although she is not quite sure if it's genuine. And so she does something out of the ordinary and embarks on a amazing journey. Allyson and Willem jump on the Eurostar and head to Paris for the day, even though Allyson will have to be on a plane home in a few days. She doesn't speak French, she's never been to the city before, and she is hopeless at reading maps, so she leaves it up to Willem to show her the beauty of the city--until he disappears and she is left stranded.

I picked up Just One Day and assumed that Willem would leave Allyson. From the beginning of the story you know he is going to leave; you suspect as always that there will be a happy couple, but no. Willem leaving makes for a much more interesting and emotional novel.

Just One Day really shows us the briefest of romances. We can see how both Allyson and Willem get caught up in the moment, in what Paris means to them. In reality it's not romantic and life isn't a movie and no, an inspiring movie score will not suddenly start to play. I liked Just One Day because it wasn't your ordinary romance book; it has a twist that you see coming but the story keeps you interested.

Rating: 5

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has been a life-changing book for me. It is about redemption and how it's never too late to fix a mistake. In the story the main character, Amir, lives with his father in Afghanistan. His father, Baba, is well known and wealthy. Amir's servant and closest friend, Hassan, is a Hazara. Amir and Hassan spend their days happily flying kites and reading stories by a tree in the local cemetery.

During this time period Afghan people did not accept and looked down upon Hazaras because of their difference in ethnic backgrounds. Due to this reason, Amir never said in public that Hassan was his best friend. But Hassan was still a loyal friend. This loyalty made him undergo a violent encounter. Amir knew of this but did nothing to stop it. Amir carried the guilt with him throughout his life.

                 I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read a book that you won't want to put down. I like how the author describes how the characters are feeling and describes the setting. It makes you feel like you truly are there. By reading this book you will find out how Amir tries to fix his past mistakes to continue with his life.

Rating: 4

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

Nikki is beautiful. Nikki is charming. Nikki is crazy. Nikki is the mother from hell. From the time Matthew is a preschooler, he has taken on the job of protecting his younger sisters from the unpredictable moods of their mother, Nikki. He never knows when she will turn from loving mother to abusive mother. But he knows that when she does, it is up to him to keep him and his sisters safe.

One hot summer evening, when Nikki has gone out to have fun and left the kids locked in the apartment, Matthew and his sister Callie sneak out to buy popsicles at the grocery story. While there, they witness an encounter among an enraged father, his little boy, and Murdoch, a man who comes between them to defend the little boy. After seeing Murdoch step up, Matthew becomes convinced that he is the man who can help them get away from Nikki. After this night, he searches for Murdoch for months, hoping to meet him again, become friends, and ultimately be saved from his mother.

Murdoch does eventually enter the lives of Matthew and his sisters, but not in the way Matthew wants. His efforts to get help from the various adults in his life--Murdoch, his aunt, his absentee father--are fruitless, until Nikki turns the corner into true mental illness and her behavior becomes something no can ignore anymore.

Matthew is a realistic character who embodies the "rescuer" mentality many abused children possess. He figures out "rules," things to do to try to turn Nikki from her rages. Sometimes he is successful. Sometimes not. Readers will be riveted by his struggle.

Rating: 4

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones

You would think from the title of this book that it is completely depressing and darkly dramatic, but the author uses humor to lighten the basic plot line, which is that fifteen-year-old Ruby's mother does indeed die a horrible death from cancer, and Ruby does have to leave her beloved aunt and her best friend and her boyfriend to go far away to live with a father she has never seen before BUT. . .

Her father is a handsome movie star who is amazingly rich and lives in a fabulous house next door to Cameron Diaz. He has a collection of incredibly cool vintage cars and buys Ruby all sorts of trendy and expensive clothes and gadgets. He enrolls Ruby into an exclusive school where the children of other movie stars go and where Ruby's elective is dream interpretation, of all the kooky "California" things. So even though you feel sad for Ruby for losing her mom, and she goes through tremendous grief trying to deal with it, you have the comic element of Ruby dealing with this impossibly fantastic life that most kids would love to live.

Told in the first-person, in engaging free verse, the reader sees what Ruby sees and learns what Ruby learns as soon as Ruby herself does. And the end is a surprise. So, get over the title and give it a read.

Rating: 3.5

The Misfits by James Howe

Bobby Goodspeed is a misfit at Paintbrush Falls Middle School. Not only is he a misfit but his friends are too. Skeezie is like a small version of Elvis Presley, Addie will do anything to stop injustice, and Joe is a gay boy who changes his name at least twice every week. The other kids call them names like marshmallow fluff, lardo, stupid, idiot, know-it-all, etc. In order to stop the name-calling, Bobby, Joe, Addie, and Skeezie start a new political party for the school student council elections. The election doesn't go as they planned, but they actually made an impact at school and no one is name calling anymore. But there is more to the ending and if you want to find out read the book. It really got my attention. The book relates to people at school right now.

Juan Garcia, 8th grade, 13 years old

Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix by Graham Salisbury

Stella is always teasing Calvin. She calls him names and makes fun of him. One day, Calvin decides to do something about it, but then the guilt is killing him. I loved Calvin Coconut. He teaches us that when you do something bad to someone it doesn't make you happy, I can't wait to read the next book coming out, Dog Heaven.

Xiomara Mijango, 7th grade, 12 years old